Follow UsAfter scoring 291, courtesy of Afghanistan’s first World Cup hundred by Ibrahim Zadran, Afghanistan had Australia seven wickets down at just 91 runs and were looking set to record a dominating win over the five-time world champions. However, Glenn Maxwell was plotting his own way to a victory and scored 201* in a chase of 292, most of which came on a single leg as he was severely cramping.
Afghanistan helped Maxwell in his innings twice - once in the 21st over, where skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi dropped him at 26* off Rashid Khan’s bowling. The next chance was given in the next over itself, this time by Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who dropped him at short fine leg on Noor Zadran’s bowling. While speaking to the press post the match, Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott highlighted the disappointment in the Afghan camp after letting go of great odds at their fifth victory in the competition.
He said, “...we got ourselves into position and should have capitalised, obviously dropped two chances, and gave a person like Maxwell a chance. He's going to run with it, and he almost played with a bit of freedom and almost freed him up a little bit and gave a bit of momentum back to them. I thought it was a spectacular innings, a world-class innings. But, yeah, we certainly helped him along the way.”
While Maxwell was badly cramping and unable to move his feet at all while hitting the shots, Afghan bowlers missed their mark many a time, bowling balls into his body and not away from him, which would have made him stretch uncomfortably towards such deliveries and create chances through mishits. Trott was critical of such a lack of execution from his bowlers.
He remarked, “I always think could we have done a few things slightly different, bowled certain areas, different bowlers here or there. Obviously, there are certain things you would like to try differently now, but hindsight is a great thing. And so, it's a good lesson, I think, as well for our players, because in this game, if you take your eye off the ball just a little bit and you think too far ahead, and you try and start thinking other things instead of just worrying about taking the next wicket, this game can bite you pretty quickly.”
Afghanistan have been pushing for the semi-final spot despite having not a single batter in the top 10 highest run-getters (Ibrahim is 11th) and no bowler in the top 15 highest wicket-takers this World Cup. So, it's been a team performance from them this World Cup. Hence, along with his criticism, Trott also dialled down on the presence of young cricketers in the Afghan who would learn a lot from such an experience of being so near and yet so far. “I think obviously it's a disappointing loss, but I think it's an experience for a young side, developing. This is – you know, these sorts of things, make sure that we learn from these sorts of things. And just how cutthroat cricket is at the highest level and how you need to be on your game, not for, you know, 70 overs, but for 100 overs,” he said.
Meanwhile, he also remarked on Maxwell’s innings and how “it is difficult to get over the fact that one player's got 200 and the rest of the team have got sort of 80 probably”. Trott said, “...he kept hitting them in the stands, so we can't put fielders in the stands. I wish we could have. But full credit to him, the way that he played to get a double hundred is phenomenal. He deserved to win the game; he got a double hundred.”
Afghanistan had batted well in the first innings, largely due to Ibrahim Zadran’s brilliant hundred. Trott was quite happy with how he batted throughout the innings and how his presence in the last 10 overs helped the team accelerate towards a 290-plus total.
“Yeah, obviously to get the first hundred and to have a batsman in the last 10 overs was fantastic. We saw how we could accelerate. I think the partnership with Rashid and himself, sort of gave us a bit of a kick, you know, lifted us at the end and kicked us onto a defendable total, which should have been defendable, but yeah, very happy that he got 100. Maybe there's times where he could have accelerated a little bit quicker and maybe gone a bit quicker. But to get your first 100 in a World Cup, he's a fantastic player and a great lad. So, I'm really happy for him and hopefully many more,” Trott said.
Afghanistan have already qualified for the Champions Trophy, which is the first time that they have made it to the coveted ICC ODI tournament. However, after this loss, their chances for the semifinal remain hinged on their last game against South Africa on November 10. Coach Trott wanted his team to be resilient after a defeat, just like they have been so far in the competition.
“We lost the New Zealand game pretty heavily and came back and won the next game. We lost the India game very heavily. Came back and beat England – so yeah, there is evidence of us coming back. No time to muck around, we’ve got to pick ourselves up and learn from the experience. And there are some great learning points for the guys going forward. But yeah, it's a bitter pill to swallow. It would really be nice just sitting here with 10 points. But hopefully, that's after the South Africa game,” he said.